Oh no, no, no. Could it be seven Donates in a row?!
THREE PROS
*There's no discounting the excitement of a well-executed photo hunt, especially one that is almost as tough for parents as it is for the littlest of readers
*I'm not sure who was the illustrator in the Ahlberg family (Janet or Allan), but whoever it was did a really nice job with bringing classic characters to life
*I think this is the first mention I have seen of Robin Hood in a children's book I have reviewed -- I'm actually surprised authors don't use him more often
*I think this is the first mention I have seen of Robin Hood in a children's book I have reviewed -- I'm actually surprised authors don't use him more often
THREE CONS
*I can't fully slam the writing style because it is designed to suit the "I spy" nature of the story, but there had to be some way to better construct it so I didn't feel like I was rattling off mismatched sentence fragments
*Even the English (where Caldecott himself came up with the rhyme) would have a tough time justifying the inclusion of Baby Bunting in anything other than his own nursery rhyme -- still, I was impressed with what the writing team did with him to bring all of the other fairy tale stars together
*Even the English (where Caldecott himself came up with the rhyme) would have a tough time justifying the inclusion of Baby Bunting in anything other than his own nursery rhyme -- still, I was impressed with what the writing team did with him to bring all of the other fairy tale stars together
*Just because "each" rhymes with "peach" doesn't mean it should be included in the title of a book that really only involves the plum (sorry pears, you are an afterthought too)
ONE DAD'S OPINION
Upon first reading this, I was pretty sure I had another Donate on my hands. But, as I thought about all of the little things the Ahlbergs did to accent the famous nursery rhymes they pulled from, I had a change of heart. To name a couple: having Jack and Jill already at the bottom of a hill where a well was dug at the peak and having Cinderella shoeless as she did her chores. That second read also allowed me to realize that the conclusion was better than I originally believed. Normally, I think it's a cop out to go with the idea of everyone just sitting together -- but in this case, I thought they did enough leading up to that point to make you see why a bunch of otherwise unrelated people (and animals) would enjoy a communal meal. All things considered, it's an unspectacular effort, yet solid enough to be worth about a week-long rental from your local library.
Buy / BORROW / Donate / Destroy
ONE DAD'S OPINION
Upon first reading this, I was pretty sure I had another Donate on my hands. But, as I thought about all of the little things the Ahlbergs did to accent the famous nursery rhymes they pulled from, I had a change of heart. To name a couple: having Jack and Jill already at the bottom of a hill where a well was dug at the peak and having Cinderella shoeless as she did her chores. That second read also allowed me to realize that the conclusion was better than I originally believed. Normally, I think it's a cop out to go with the idea of everyone just sitting together -- but in this case, I thought they did enough leading up to that point to make you see why a bunch of otherwise unrelated people (and animals) would enjoy a communal meal. All things considered, it's an unspectacular effort, yet solid enough to be worth about a week-long rental from your local library.
Buy / BORROW / Donate / Destroy
1 comment:
Phew, finally one that breaks your donate spree!
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